The World Lethwei Federation (WLF) ( my, ကမ္ဘာ့လက်ဝှေ့အဖွဲချုပ်) was founded in 2019 as the international governing body for amateur and professional

Lethwei Lethwei ( my, လက်ဝှေ့; IPA: ) or Burmese boxing, is a full contact combat sport from Myanmar that uses stand-up striking including headbutts. Lethwei is considered to be one of the most brutal martial arts in the world, * * * a ...

. The WLF has the responsibility to sanction and support the growth of Lethwei worldwide outside of

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, including enforcement of its traditions, rules and regulations.

History

In 2018, Danish businessman Andi Egeberg invited Lethwei world champion

Dave Leduc Dave Leduc (born 13 December 1991) is a Canadian Lethwei fighter who competes in the World Lethwei Championship, where he is the former WLC Cruiserweight World Champion. He is also the undefeated Openweight Lethwei World Champion under traditi ...

and organized the first Lethwei seminar in the country of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. In 2019, Egeberg established the Danish Lethwei Federation ( da, Dansk Lethwei Forbund) and founded the World Lethwei Federation headquartered in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. Operating as a member of the World Lethwei Federation, the Slovak Lethwei Association ( sk, Slovenská Lethwei Associácia) has supported the growth of the sport in Eastern Europe by sanctioning many Lethwei events in Slovakia. Due to the violent ruleset, Lethwei is difficult to sanction and is only legal in a few countries outside of Myanmar. On November 7, 2020, in partnership with the Wyoming Combat Sports Commission, the WLF the sanctioned the first-ever Lethwei fight and the first Lethwei world championship fight in the United States. Dave Leduc defended his traditional Lethwei world title against the American

Cyrus Washington Cyrus Washington born 28 October 1983) is an American kickboxer, Taekwondo, Muay Thai and Lethwei fighter. He is former WKA, WMF, WKBF and PK-1 Muay Thai World Champion, as well as former WBC Muaythai USA Champion, WMC and Lumpinee Stadium Tit ...

Cheyenne, Wyoming Cheyenne ( or ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming, as well as the county seat of Laramie County, with 65,132 residents, per the 2020 US Census. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne metropolitan statistical ...

. In 2021, the ''Amateur Lethwei World Championship'' scheduled to be held August in

Warsaw, Poland Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-cen ...

, was cancelled due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

travelling restrictions. On October 29, 2022, the WLF sanctioned the first-ever Lethwei World championship in Europe. The match featured the Slovak Michal Kosik against the Canadian Daniel Lariviere in

Brezno Brezno (; 1927–1948 ''Brezno nad Hronom'', german: Bries or ''Briesen'', hu, Breznóbánya) is a town in central Slovakia with a population of around 21,000. Geography Brezno is located within the Geomorphological division of Slovakia, Horehr ...

, Slovakia. In 2023, the World Lethwei Federation selected

Prom Samnang Prom Samnang ( km, ព្រំ សំណាង), (born 9 September 1986) is a Cambodian Kun Khmer fighter and is one of the most successful Kun Khmer fighters in Cambodia. In 2023, Samnang won the Thai Fight Kard Chuek championship title in Th ...

as the challenger for the openweight Lethwei World Championship against

because of his winning streak in

Kun Khmer Pradal Serey ( km, ប្រដាល់សេរី) or Kun Khmer ( km, គុនខ្មែរ) is a combat sport originated in Cambodia. The official Khmer name of the sport is Kbach Kun Pradal Khmer. In Khmer, ''pradal'' means fighting or ...

. The match was scheduled to take place on May 27, 2023, in

Banska Bystrica The Banska ( bg, Банска) is a river in Haskovo Province, southeastern Bulgaria. The river is long. The Banska springs out from Sofidzhik Peak in the Eastern Rhodopes. It passes through the villages of Tatarevo, Garvanovo, Klokotnitsa ...

, but was cancelled because Samnang was denied a

Schengen The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...

visa to enter

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. On July 8, 2023, the WLF to unveiled its inaugural ''Red belt'' for the world title fight between Ivan Hatala and

Artur Saladiak Artur Saładiak (born March 15, 1991) is a Polish Muay Thai kickboxer and Lethwei fighter who competes in Glory and World Lethwei Championship. He is a former WLC Light Middleweight World Champion. Muay Thai & kickboxing career Fighting ou ...

. ''"Boxing has the

WBC WBC may stand for: Business *Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, a former large India broadcaster now folded into CBS *Westpac (New Delhi Exchange code: WBC), a multinational Financial services company *Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT Wholesale's ...

Green belt, Lethwei has the WLF Red belt."'' said President Andi Egeberg. Saladiak defeated Hatala by TKO in the fourth round and became the WLF Lightweight champion.

MTLF controversy

In 2021, the

Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Federation The Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Federation (MTLF) ( my, မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရိုးရာလက်ဝှေ့အဖွဲ့ချုပ်) is one of two major organizations which sanctions professional Lethwei bouts wo ...

(MTLF) issued an official letter banning the Lethwei world champion

from competing under their federation for 2 years, because of provoking comments he made about

Buakaw Banchamek Sombat Banchamek ( th, สมบัติ บัญชาเมฆ, born May 8, 1982) a.k.a. Buakaw Banchamek ( th, บัวขาว บัญชาเมฆ, links=no, Buakaw meaning "white lotus") is a martial artist from Thailand of ethnic ...

and the sport of

Muaythai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

. In a Facebook post, Leduc said that "''the WLF is the most powerful, they have affiliated federations all across the world''" and stated his intention to only compete in WLF sanctioned events from now on. He added: ''"There's two Federations in Lethwei: the WLF / World Lethwei Federation and the MTLF / Myanmar Lethwei Federation, who are just a bunch of old men from a community club that never liked me & I never liked them either. They made an “official letter” saying they ban me from their federation “for 2 years” Am I supposed to care? Not only do I not care, I will go further and say: I will never fight in their federation ever again."''

References

External links

* {{Kickboxing organizations WLF Sports organizations established in 2019 WLF Organizations based in Copenhagen

History

MTLF controversy

See also

References

External links